Parents want HISD to stop playing with recess

Updated 10:53 am, Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Photo: Cody Duty

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Dean Naulls, left, plays along with other kindergarteners during recess at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in Houston. Parents are lobbying the Houston school board to make 30 minutes of daily recess mandatory in elementary schools. The new Poe Elementary principal agreed that unstructured play time was important for students. (Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle)

Dean Naulls, left, plays along with other kindergarteners during recess at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in Houston. Parents are lobbying the Houston school board to make 30 minutes of daily

Fifth graders Jordan Gregorcyk-Landrey, top, and Nicole Mut, bottom, play during recess at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in Houston. Parents are lobbying the Houston school board to make 30 minutes of daily recess mandatory in elementary schools. The new Poe Elementary principal agreed that unstructured play time was important for students.

Aubrey McDonald, fifth grade, hangs upside down during recess at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in Houston. Parents are lobbying the Houston school board to make 30 minutes of daily recess mandatory in elementary schools. The new Poe Elementary principal agreed that unstructured play time was important for students.

Emma Wheat, center, looks at Christina Gayle, right, as they play with fifth grade classmates during recess at Edgar Allan Poe Elementary Monday, Feb. 6, 2012, in Houston. Parents are lobbying the Houston school board to make 30 minutes of daily recess mandatory in elementary schools. The new Poe Elementary principal agreed that unstructured play time was important for students.

Parents in HISD are lobbying the board to ensure that their children don't miss out on the one-time staple of elementary school: recess.

Upset that some principals have shortened recess or eliminated it amid academic pressure, the parents have asked the Houston Independent School District to mandate the free playtime for 30 minutes a day in all elementary schools.

"Our kids need a break. They're working so hard," said Chrysi Polydoros, a mother of four who serves on HISD's school health advisory council.

The council believes so strongly in the benefits of the recess that it also wants the state's largest school district to ban teachers from withholding it even if students misbehave.

HISD board members said they were interested in the proposal but want Superintendent Terry Grier's administration to weigh in before a vote, perhaps as soon as next month.

Texas law doesn't mandate recess but says elementary school students must get at least 135 minutes a week - or 27 minutes a day - of physical activity. That can include regular physical education classes or recess, as long as it is structured.

A proposed bill to make unstructured recess mandatory, in addition to PE, didn't gain traction among Texas lawmakers last year.

Policies in HISD and in other Houston-area districts vary. Students at some HISD elementary schools already get 30 minutes of recess daily while others have it once a week or not at all. HISD only mandates daily recess for children in kindergarten, and the district doesn't track each school's recess policies.

In other districts

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD changed its rules this year to ensure all its elementary schools hold recess for 20 minutes a day.

In Galveston ISD, some schools have daily recess for younger students, while the older children get 15 minutes at least three times a week. Klein ISD requires recess for 15 minutes a day, and the policy says students cannot lose the time "for disciplinary or instructional reasons."

"We think the children are more productive if they're allowed that little bit of a break time," said Misty Kainer, the principal of Benignus Elementary in Klein. "Think of us as adults."

Principals' concern

Sam Sarabia, HISD's chief of elementary schools, said he understands the push for recess - to give children time to relax and learn socialization skills - but the enemy is time.

"Some principals could be worried, 'Where do we fit it in?' " Sarabia said.

Grier said district officials may want to discuss the possibility of lengthening the school day - a costly endeavor to pay staff overtime. The district has extended the day in nine of its lowest-performing middle and high schools, but that time typically is used for extra math or reading classes and tutoring sessions.

'Our kids cannot read'

Even holding regular PE classes can be tough, with increased academic standards and tighter budgets. About 25 of HISD's 179 elementary schools don't have PE teachers, and the older campuses lack gymnasiums, said Melanie Crawford, the district's manager of elementary school health and PE.

Albert Lemons, the principal of HISD's Atherton Elementary in the Fifth Ward, said he doesn't require recess, although some teachers hold it.

"We're really working on academics. Our kids cannot read," he said. "To me recess is nothing but a play period. When they go home that's what they're going to do - play."

Lemons said the students get to exercise during PE class, and some arrive before school to walk the outdoor track.

Lobbying for recess became a passion for Polydoros about a year and a half ago when, she said, her second-grade daughter at Poe Elementary in Montrose didn't get recess because some kids had misbehaved. When they did get recess, it usually was for just 15 minutes.

Polydoros said she approached Poe's new principal, Jeff Amerson, over the summer, and he agreed students should get a half hour of recess daily.